Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Railway Privatisation
I would continue the privatisation of the railways and run them along the same principles as the air travel market, creating open access lines where companies bid for slots at stations (similar to landing slots at airports). The increase in competition will drive up quality and drive down prices. Slots on both the East Coast and West Coast Main Lines will be at a premium, therefore becoming revenue generators for the government. There would be subsidies available for rural and highland routes, similar to the subsidies given to British Airways to operate a service.
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2 comments:
What if I win the bid for (say) a 10:00 stop at Slough, but my competitors win the bids for the (say) 10:20 - 10:40 slots at Reading? How will you ensure rational allocation? There is a coordination problem with this proposal. There is no perfect solution, but I have a feeling it may be better to go back to the pre-BR arrangements.
I don't live out west of London so I'm afraid I don't understand your question!
I don't agree the pre-privatisation arrangements would be better (whether we'd be in the situation we are now in without privatisation is a discussion for another day); what could be the solution is to combine the TOCs with the tracks (ie. abolish Network Rail). Then the TOCs have no excuses for infrastructure failures!
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